Gwen Frostic leaves more than $13 million to WMU

Jan. 9, 2002

KALAMAZOO -- Celebrated Michigan artist Gwen Frostic ended
a lifelong love affair with her alma mater, Western Michigan
University, by bequeathing a gift estimated at more than $13
million, the largest gift in the school's history, to WMU.

Frostic, one of the University's most accomplished and celebrated
alumni, died April 25, 2001, one day shy of her 95th birthday.
She died at her longtime home in Benzonia, Mich., where for 40
years she had operated Presscraft Papers, Gwen Frostic Prints
of Benzonia, a Michigan landmark.

According to WMU President Elson S. Floyd, the University
recently received an $8 million distribution from Frostic's estate.
Another distribution in excess of $5 million is expected when
the estate is closed. The gift was made by Frostic for the unrestricted
use of the University, leaving allocation of the funds to the
discretion of the University president.

"By any standard," said Floyd in announcing the
gift, "Gwen Frostic was an extraordinary person, and our
University was blessed to count her as one of our own. Her generosity
was born out of a relationship with and a love for this University
that began in the 1920s and lasted more than 70 years. Gwen Frostic
honored this University through her final gift and it is incumbent
on us to see that she is honored and remembered by the ways in
which this gift is used."

Although the gift carried no restrictions, Floyd said the
University will honor Frostic's life of service and accomplishment
by using the majority of the funds for a series of projects and
endowments that reflect Frostic's achievements; her love of art,
nature and writing; and her dedication to education.

$5 million will be used for a planned new art facility, which
will house studios, laboratories and public gallery space for
the teaching and learning of art and design.

$1 million will be used to create an endowment that will support
WMU's Creative Writing Program.

$1.5 million will be used to create the first faculty endowed
chair in WMU's College of Education.

A total of $600,000 will be used to establish three $200,000
endowments to fund three Gwen Frostic Presidential Medallion
Scholarships, which will become part of WMU's highly competitive
Medallion Scholarship Program for attracting top high school
seniors.

Another $100,000 will be used to establish an endowed scholarship
fund for Benzie County students who plan to attend WMU.

$250,000 will be used to create an endowed professorship in
environmental studies.

$250,000 of the gift will go into a doctoral fellowship endowment
fund that will be used to keep the University competitive in
its ability to provide financial assistance to top graduate students.

All remaining funds will go into the President's Unrestricted
Endowment.

Frostic informed WMU in 1983 that she had included the University
in her estate plan. She left her business to her closest friends,
Kirk and Pam Lorenz of Beulah, Mich. They are continuing to operate
the business, while Frostic's nephew, William Frostic, is continuing
in his longtime role as shop manager.

Frostic was a member of the WMU Class of 1929. A distinguished
artist, poet and naturalist, she maintained a close relationship
with her alma mater for all of her life. She was the recipient
of a 1965 WMU Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctor
of humanities degree from the University in 1971. She was a director
emerita of the WMU Foundation, serving on the foundation's board
from 1980 to 1983. Frostic's art is part of the University's
Permanent Collection and a reading lounge in Waldo Library was
named in her honor in 1993.

Born in 1906 in Sandusky, Mich., Frostic was left with slight
paralysis and slurred speech by a childhood illness. She never
let it limit her. Founder of Presscraft Papers in the 1950s,
she was an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur at a time
when very few women worked outside the home, much less owned
and operated businesses.

Five Michigan universities awarded her honorary degrees. Former
Michigan Gov. William Milliken declared May 23, 1978, as "Gwen
Frostic Day," and she was inducted into the Michigan Women's
Hall of Fame in 1986.

A memorial service for Frostic was held in June on the campus
of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, with former WMU President
Diether H. Haenicke presiding. Haenicke had a close relationship
with Frostic from the beginning of his presidency, in 1985. Also
speaking at the service was Helen Flaspohler, a retired WMU development
officer and a director emerita of the WMU Foundation. Flaspohler
met Frostic in 1974 and maintained a relationship with her until
her death.

Says Flaspohler, "A highly intelligent woman with a marvelous
sense of humor, Gwen traveled for many years at her own expense,
speaking to gatherings of all ages. She often told her audiences
that she had gone to another university to receive a degree but
came to Western Michigan University to receive an education.

"Gwen had a lifelong love and understanding of nature
and wildlife," Flaspohler says, "and she used her creative
talents not only as a successful businesswoman but also to influence
and teach others about living within our environment."